Random As Rhyme

I had the privilege of going the the Toronto stop of the Rock The Bells Festival last night and I am pretty sure I damaged my ears really bad. But it’s worth every bit of hearing loss I now suffer from.
For those of you who don’t know what Rock The Bells is its an amazing hip hop concert that is better described as an experience due to the amount of top notch real hip hop acts you get to see. Take a look at the set list (after the jump) and you will have an understanding of what’s up.

Hosts:
PETE ROCK (Host)
SUPERNATURAL (Host)
KRS-ONE (Host)

Acts:
LOCAL BUD OPENER
THE KNUX
SLUM VILLAGE
M.O.P
SLAUGHTERHOUSE
TECH N9NE
KNAAN
REFLECTION ETERNAL
RZA
EPMD
BIG BOI
MOS DEF
NAS & DAMIAN MARLEY

Lyndsey and I arrived to the Molson Amphitheater (water taking mofos!) in time for Slum Village, which was a treat since I am a big Dilla Fan (I edited my first bmx video to one of his tracks) and they didn’t disappoint or fail to represent for one of the best that ever did it.

Next up was MOP and Slaughterhouse, I am a HUGE fan of both of these artists and I was glad I got to witness both of the perform. M.O.P. played a lot of material I forgot I knew the words too ended with Ante Up which helped pump up (get it?) the slowly building crowd for Slaughterhouse. As I have mentioned before Slaughterhouse is one of  my favorite acts right now and all of the members are beasts on the mic and have great on stage presence. Lyndsey who had no idea who they were really liked their set which says a lot, now I just have to get her singing along to woodstock hip hop.

Tech N9ne put on a good performance but I don’t really follow much of his recent work so it was kind of a seg-way into what was to come (his entrance was dope though). K’naan put on a great show to a hometown crowd and after hearing him live I want to pick up some of his studio work and take a listen since I admit I have been slacking on keeping up with this guy.

I forgot to mention that in between all of the acts Supernatural was holding it down, but once KRS came out the hosting kicked it up 1000 notches. You can’t listen to KRS without getting hype its impossible. My friend Kendall informed me that it’s because he is the god emcee, when he speaks you stand up and listen.

Reflection Eternal merked it obviously, you can’t go wrong with High Tech and Kweli, and RZA reminded everyone exactly why Wu Tang Clan ain’t nothing to fuck with. He also helped us celebrate his birthday  (it was also Royce’s Birthday) with some chanting and a bottle of vodka.

To the fans dismay EPMD did not not perform Da Joint but did put on a great show none the less and Bog Boi came out and smashed the place just watch the video and wait for Kryptonite to drop (2:30).

Next up was Mos Def who only had to say “Boogieman” for the crowd to crank up the volume a few more ear bleeding decibles, I am also forever thankful that Mos and Talib preformed together as Blackstarr.

The show was then officially murdered dead by Nas and Damian Marley. I had seen Nas before so I knew he would be live but Damian Marley also puts on an epic show and the dude who waves the flag for him has some sort of unseen energy source he did it non stop and with style.

If what KRS was saying about next year is true I better get some ear plugs and tickets. WU TANG?!

Also happy birthday to Joell Ortiz!
And KRS keep that RV rubber side up!

The first hip hop album that I ever listened to was the Bullworth Soundtrack and while it wasn’t your average starting point but it served as a great way to get introduced to a variety of different to shelf hip hop artists as well as a few unknown ones. One of the lesser know artists on the CD were the Black Eyed Peas at this point they had a nice underground head nodding style and I dug it.

The song was called Joints and Jams and sounds way different than the crap, excuse me, music they put out today.

After hearing this song I searched out more music by BEP and was greeted by some genuine treats, amazing fun and funky hip hop tracks. For example the track below,Bridging The Gap is another favorite of mine

Listening to the sound they had before in comparison to what they have now one can easily conclude why they switched.  Their old style appeal to real hip hop heads and back packers where as their new sound has a more mass, mainstream, pop appeal. More appeal equals more units sold which leads to more money in the pockets of will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo and Fergie.  Some people don’t like to point fingers at exactly who killed the old sound but I am going to go ahead and point mine.

Who would have figured such a sometimes attractive sometimes not package such as Fergie could be the harbinger of death to what was once a great hip hop group? I am not sure how much influence she had over the groups new direction but things started changing around the time she arrived, actually I suppose one could also blame Justin Timberlake for lending his vocals on Where is the love, but I would rather blame and post pictures of her.

I wish the old BEP would come back and the new one would vanish but until that happens (never) there is youtube:
Fallin up
Weekends
BEP Empire – Produced by DJ Premiere bet he won’t fuck with them now

Short post today as I have spent most of it looking for jobs and watching bmx videos. However check out these videos from this years FIRST stop of the Dew tour. This year is going to be crazy. Damn.

Dirt Finals

Park Finals

Vert Finals

10 Unusual and Creative Fountains – Toxel

Michael Jackson Art Tribute – Web designer depot

Pic Dump

Close Call

Monkeys Bang On Hood

Top Gear – Bugatti Veyron Vs Mclaren F1

AAAARRRRGOOOOOS

WOOOOO LIGHT WEIGHT